On the other hand, General Oster, the Italian commander in East Africa, was very puzzled when he saw that his troops would pay a heavy price for every step forward in British Somalia.

He thought to himself: "What is the matter with this group of British, they are using less than one-fifth of our troops to insist on resisting our attack, this is simply unimaginable!" Is it that this group of British people is crazy, or do they have something to rely on? ”

After three full days of advance, the Italian army advanced only 30 miles on the Somali battlefield, and 50 miles away from Beledvin, the first key city in the Somali theater.

The situation was similar in the Sudanese battlefield to the north, where the Italian army had only just captured Kasala.

Fortunately, when General Garibaldi learned of the situation in the East African battlefield, he immediately spoke with General Oster on the phone.

He analyzed on the phone: "General Oster, I suggest that your troops go straight to attack only the big cities occupied by the British, and ignore the attacks of the small British troops, so that your troops can carry out strategic advancement as soon as possible, so as to achieve the two major strategic effects of conquering East Africa and supporting North Africa." ”

After listening to Garibaldi's words, Oster suddenly felt a mouthful.

Originally, not every place, large or small, had to be defeated, and in this barren land of East Africa, it was only necessary to occupy important large cities to achieve the goal of occupying the surrounding areas based on this city.

So, Oster, who found the trick, successively conquered two large cities in central Somalia, Beledwyn and Blobuldy, on the Somali battlefield for a while.

Soon, the Italian army on the Sudanese battlefield also made effective progress, conquering Kassala and Haiya and approaching Port Sudan.

However, because the level of equipment of the Italian army was far inferior to that of the British army, even if it relied on the superiority in numbers and firepower, the losses were still heavy, and it always maintained a 1:2 battle loss ratio with the British army.

Even so, for the Italian troops, which were five times as strong as the British, it was already a proud victory that pleased them.

........

The news of the staged victory of the Italian army in Africa soon reached Mussolini's ears.

Mussolini, who was sitting on the hospital bed, jumped off the hospital bed happily after hearing the news of the victory, and said excitedly to his secretary: "I know that I didn't choose the wrong person, you see, this General Garibaldi has just taken office, and such a great good news has come." I don't think it's going to be a few days, and the British will have to get me out of Africa. By that time, the Mediterranean Sea would be the inner lake of my new Roman Empire! ”

With that, Mussolini hummed a little tune again with joy.

Who knows, Mussolini's confidential secretary, who had not spoken just now, suddenly felt a violent palpitation!

It's over, why is the leader humming a little song again?!

.........

North Africa, Libyan battlefield.

Unlike the great victories of the Italian army in East Africa, the Italian army in North Africa was much more miserable.

Although the morale of the Italian officers and soldiers in North Africa recovered a little after General Garibaldi took office, the Italian army in North Africa was helpless in the face of the British army's rapid advance.

Just a few days earlier, the northern Libyan towns of Badia and Tobruk had been occupied, and the fleeing Italian troops were intercepted by the British 7th Panzer Division at the Bidaf Gate.

To the east of Benghazi, Tobruk is the only deep-water port available. The Italian army operated here for many years, repeatedly strengthening the fortifications in this area and building firing points.

The Tobruk Ring included the 32-mile-long Balbia Avenue, where the Italian army had built a large number of permanent fortifications and had large-caliber fortress guns for long-range fire support.

However, Garibaldi heard from the commander of the defeated army that the British army was not violently blocked at all when they passed through the Balbia Boulevard, and basically reached the fortress of Tobruk with great ease.

"Smack!" Garibaldi, who has always prided himself on being good-tempered, finally couldn't help but get angry.

He threw the battle report he received on the ground, gritting his teeth and rubbing it back and forth with his boots.

Although Garibaldi did not speak, the staff officers around him all felt the anger of the new commander.

A staff officer who had followed the two marshals, Balbo and Graziani, took two steps forward and comforted Garibaldi, who had just arrived: "Commander, your ability is obvious to all. The loss of the front line has nothing to do with you. Presumably, the leader will understand your plight and will not blame our command for this failure. ”

"The reason why I am angry is not because I am afraid that the leader will blame me for my failure." Shaking his head, Garibaldi said with a wry smile: "The Tobruk Fortress is a strategic town that we operate all year round. It is also a super strategic point created by Marshal Barbo when he was the governor of Libya, with great efforts and a lot of financial, material and human resources. Countless supplies, munitions, oil, equipment, overnight, directly with the fortress of Tobruk became the spoils of the British army! ”

As early as Roman times, Tobruk was a fortress guarding Cyrenaica. Today, the largest airport in eastern Libya is only 15 miles from the port of Tobruk, making it a strategic point.

It can be said that the British army and the Italian army, which side occupies Tobruk, which side has the absolute advantage of taking Tobruk as the axis and deterring a radius of dozens of miles.

Originally, if the Italian army in North Africa wanted to invade Egypt, it only needed to use Tobruk as a logistics base, make good use of this transit station, and continuously invest troops to suppress the British army in Egypt.

But now, the fortress of Tobruk has been captured by the British, and Garibaldi's heart aches not only for a large amount of materials captured by the British, but also for this "wedge" to contain the logistics line of both sides on the Mediterranean coast.

The British obtained this fortress, and Garibaldi wanted to resume his offensive against Egypt in the future, but it was difficult.

"Without the fortress of Tobruk, the footsteps of our entire North African Army will be stuck around Benghazi by the British. Once we were too far out of Benghazi, our logistics couldn't keep up and we had to go back to Benghazi. Garibaldi nodded to his subordinates in the headquarters, "But the British have Tobruk, they can concentrate their forces in North Africa a little." As long as we hold this unavoidable fortress, our army's logistics will not guarantee that we will fight to Egypt. ”

With Garibaldi's words, everyone discovered the mystery.

Only then did they understand why Marshal Balbo had spent years and years of effort to repeatedly fortify the fortress of Tobruk.

However, in addition to regrets, everyone seems to have a little more peace of mind.

Since Garibaldi can accurately understand Marshal Balbo's intentions and strategies, does this mean that his military talent is no worse than Balbo, the first Italian general?!